Potential assignment in Denmark... ship or buy?
 

Long time lurker here...

Potential of a 12 to 18 month assignment in Denmark (Aarhus or Copenhagen... not sure yet). Would you ship your bike over or would you buy one there? I have a felt verza speed 20 that I have built up for the past 6 months. Shipping costs are covered, would just need to buy a hard shell to protect. Not sure if that bike would stand out and be targeted... doubt it, but never know. If I buy local, could sell local at the end of my stint, donate or ship back.

Trying to get international and stay international. Wife and kid are coming over as well, so I will probably buy for them once they get over there.

Plan to join the commuters but not sure year round. I live in Florida, so a cold ride for me is 45-49 degrees at the lowest. In addition, my current commute is 18 miles each way and I only do it 2-3 times a week on a good week. Hopefully commute will be shorter in country. Details are TBD.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. I have a couple of months (~June) if this is to happen.

You might do both . bring your sporty bike, then Buy a practical Local Bike too.

I'd be leaning towards buying over there. I mean... you could discover that you are not able to use your bike to any useful degree in Europe. Then what?

I would buy, and use it as an opportunity to get something uncommon or non existent where you normally live.

A unicornfiets!

+ 1.

What [MENTION=365305]kickstart[/MENTION] said.

But [MENTION=302603]bikemig[/MENTION] has the equation wrong, it is:

N+1

I would buy in Denmark, and plan to have it shipped home (since shipping is paid). Why not take the opportunity to buy a nice European bike that would be hard to get from stateside?

I would also buy one there. They seem to have a pretty healthy bike commuting community there.

:wtf:

From the original post:

Thanks for the input all. The logic of buying in country makes sense from the aspect of potentially different manufacturers perspective. I didn't think about that before. Now to put pressure on the VPs to make this happen :)

I'd love to get my hands on one of those classic European heavyweight commuters with a fully enclosed chain cover. Those things are tanks.

Like my HMS Gazelle......
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=502030

But there are aluminum and CF bikes that weigh much less like my other Gazelle......
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=502031

:love:

Oh yes indeed.

I would probably do both. In fact, I did do both when I moved to the other side of the Öresund to southern Sweden a couple years ago.

I packed and shipped two bikes I cared about with some of the rest of my stuff, mostly tools and sentimental stuff. The cheap shipping from California involved a trip through Panama, so I bought a cheap Finnish city bike when I arrived, and I've upgraded that in the intervening years, but retained it's junky look.

Of course, my position was a permanent contract and I came without the extra baggage of family. Since my contract included a capped actual-charge for the move, and some of the perhapses and maybes that I heard about getting some cash when I got here didn't pan out, I probably would've brought my modern MTB and some other stuff, too.

:lol::roflmao::lol:

Europe has a much better selection on high quality trekking and commuter bikes. Therefore I would also do both. I am actually thinking of getting a new trekking bike and may purchase one in Europe on one of my next trips. Especially since I am tall fella and there are some bike companies in Europe which specialize on trekking and commuter bikes for tall people.

I have a 1994 Trekking bike from a small company in Germany. Still solid and so far I have only replaced spare parts like brakes, cables, ...

Yeah, I almost fell over when I found my Gazelle Golfo on Craigslist. It's a plain hybrid, but I'm converting it to a fully equipped disc brake trekking bike with dyno lighting.

Easily Ordered: City Bikes | LocalMile

Bicycling in Denmark is very different than in U.S. You'll not see many people riding bikes with external gears or exposed chains. Most will be on practical single or 3-speed city bikes. You can bring your road bike and it will still be good for training/racing but you'd likely not want to ride it to work for for groceries. You'll want daily bikes for you and your family.

BTW, you'll enjoy living there and it will be a great experience for your kids.

I think you should send your bike to me for safe keeping until you get back.

Just sayin' :)

I visited CPH in 91, went to take a Pee in the public Loo across from Tivoli park ,

when I came out, I had a bike stripper ride off..

already in the process of taking parts off my touring bike.